Tuesday, June 14, 2011

TCKs for the Mavs

TCK - “A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture. The third culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the third culture kid’s life experience ... "

As you likely know, we don't have TV reception. We don't have internet fast enough to watch anything streaming. This means we miss all sporting events and even forget that it is Super Bowl Sunday when it is Super Bowl Sunday. We stopped caring about USA sports sometime around year two. It's too much work to care.

For whatever reason Troy got into the Mavericks and Heat playoff games and "watched" via Twitter updates to know what was going on in the games. It is the first time I can recall him being plugged into American sports in a long time.

Our kids have no interest in professional sports. The boys could maybe tell you two or three team names total out of every sport. If you asked them to name teams they would say: "Baylor Bears, Minnesota Timberwolves, Minnesota Twins". (Edit/Add: Isaac came up with - Spurs, Longhorns, A&M, Bears, Mavericks - so three TX college teams and two NBA were on his radar. He could match cities to all those teams. He didn't know Minnestoa sports anymore. Noah only the named Baylor Bears.)

As we were packing to leave TX and come back to Haiti I shopped clearance racks for summer stuff because it was TX winter. I came across Dallas Mavericks P.J's for $1.99 and brought them to Noah. He instantly disliked them and said they were too small and ugly so they went to Phoebe and Lydia's shared pajama drawer.

Lydie chooses them most nights because they have less coverage than most of her pajamas. We know for sure she is a TCK (Third Culture Kid) just based on definition - but she shows that in so much of what she does. Rice and Beans is her favorite food. She hates and won't touch milk and pizza. What tha?

Tonight when the power popped on she had been playing in front and noticed it first and came in to announce to her Daddy, "The EDH is on Dad. You can charge the DVD player now." No one ever taught her that we don't charge things off of our batteries but instead we wait till EDH is on, but even at three she knows it and has figured it out.

We attempted to teach Lydia a bit about the Mavericks the other night ... We tested her and are trying to make her a well-rounded TCK in the know of the hottest team in basketball, especially when she wears their apparel to bed most nights. Teaching her to say Dirk Nowitzki proved to be enough of a lesson. We never made it much further. :)

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Who we are...

To Reach Us: Livesayfamily@gmail.com - We live, learn, love, & work in Port au Prince, Haiti. In the 13 years we've been here, one thing we've learned: God is not made manifest in our ability to "fix" or heal, but in our need to be healed. Recognizing this weakness leaves us in a position of having little to offer. It reveals our own need to be restored. We are not fixers of people or things. We are here trying to extend love and grace to others, the way it has been extended to us.

May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships - so that we may live deep within our hearts. May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people - so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war - so that we may reach out our hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in the world - so that we can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor. Amen. (Franciscan Benediction)

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